Poetic Edda - Cottle Trans.
SKIRNER.
Maiden! see this sword I wear,
Temper'd with celestial care:
Can'st thou view thy father fall,
Mangled in his cheerful hall?
If thou consent not, 'tis decreed
By this the hoary chief shall bleed.
Again behold this wand I lift,
Virtued with the wond'rous gift;
Of taming stubborn mortals still,
Obedient to superior will.
Maiden! thou consign'd shalt be,
To endless, dark obscurity.
Just as the famish'd eagle high
On clifts that seem to prop the sky,
At morning's dawn, with eager ken,
Looks wistful o'er the distant glen:
So thou to joy alive no more,
(14) Shalt cast thine eyes t'wards Hela's shore:
The charm of sweetest sound shall die
And pleasure from thy palate fly;
While noxious favor taints thy food,
(15) Worse than the serpent's venom'd blood.
Forth shalt thou go a monster seen,
Defil'd with noisome filth obscene.
On thee shall Hrimner fix his eyes,
And mortals stare in mute surprise:
Far off like some malignant star,
Thine infamy shall gleam afar:
Yet ever thro' thy prison grate,
To look and languish be thy fate.
Solitude's unvarying hour;
Hatred's heart-corroding power;
Clanking chains that galling bind;
Impatience --- scorpion of the mind;
These are tortures thou shalt know,
While floods of grief unceasing flow.
Maiden sit awhile and hear,
What other woes afflict thee near:
Double sorrow is thy doom---
For good that's past, and ills to come.
Horror shall thy path attend,
Where'er thy lonely footsteps bend;
Daily where (16) Hrimthursar reign,
Go progress mournful o'er the plain,
Opprest with soul tormenting care ---
Prey of comfortless despair.
Thou art doom'd in tears to find
The only solace of thy mind:
The lengthen'd sorrow --- ceaseless tear,
In thy destiny appear.
Three-headed monsters, standing round,
Shall ever with their yells confound:
At night around thy joyless bed,
No nuptial torch its rays shall shed:
Grief shall leave thee no repose,
At morning's dawn --- at even's close:
Despair shall round thy foul be twin'd,
And drink the vigor of thy mind;
As round the oak rank ivy cleaves,
Steals all its sap, and blasts its leaves.
An unshorn mountain's brow I sought,
Where never lonely woodman wrought;
There the magic wand I found,
And pluck'd it joyful from the ground.
Thy cruelty hath Odin spied;
Thundering Thor beheld thy pride;
E'en Freyer now has felt disdain ---
But e'er, O Maiden! you obtain,
The veng'ance due from Gods on high,
Giants shall thy doom descry;
Hrimthursar shall thy wailings hear;
Suttungi sons shall freeze with fear;
And godlike heroes shudd'ring see,
The horrors of thy destiny.
Now the nuptial joy is marr'd!
Now the mother's hope debarr'd!
Midst prisons of the ghastly dead,
Whence smiling hope is ever fled,
Himgrimner shall thy durance keep,
With watchful eyes that never sleep.
Squalid youths with ghastly grin,
In hollow bitter roots shall bring,
Urine of the unsav'ry goat,
To quell the parchings of thy throat.
Better cups shall never grace
The orgies of that direful place.
All thy prayers shall cease to move,
The soul of disappointed love.
Mark the giant! mark him well!
Hear me his attendants tell!
Can'st thou with the Fiends engage,
Madness, Impotence, and Rage?
Thus thy torments I describe:
The furies in my breast subside;
Peace her empire has begun;
The die is cast --- the work is done.
GERDA.
Youth! some words of comfort say---
Cease thy angry threats, I pray.
The massy flaggon deign to wield,
With generous cool metheglin fill'd.
Gods! and shall I never prove.
The sweets of honourable love?
SKIRNER.
Before my mission I complete,
Tell me what the happy seat!
Where thou to gentle Freyer's arms,
Wilt yield possession of thy charms.
GERDA.
In Barian groves the appointment keep,
Where winds on billowy verdure sleep:
And when nine nights their course have run,
I there will meet Niorder's son.
Skirner returns home, and is met by Freyer, who immediately begins ---
FREYER.
E'er thy foot the green swerd press,
Tell me, Skirner! what success?
SKIRNER.
In Barian groves the appointment keep,
Where winds on billowy verdure sleep.
There, when nine nights their course have run,
The maid will meet Niorder's son.
FREYER.
One is long--- yet longer twain---
But who a third night can sustain?
Whole months in swifter current move,
Than half one sleepless night of love.
Notes:
14. "Shall cast, &c." --- that is, she should be so dissatisfied with life, as to wish even to die. [Back]
15. "Worse than, &c." --- The serpent of Midgard is here meant. [Back]
16. Hrimthursar, --- Were the fiercest of all the Giants. [Back]
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